Previous investigations have shown that changes in total prostate volume (TPV) are highly variable among aging men, and a considerable proportion of aging men have a stable or decreasing prostate size. Although there is an abundance of literature describing prostatic enlargement in association with benign prostatic hyperplasia, less is known about the appropriate age cut-off points for TPV growth rate. In this community-based cohort study, TPV was examined once a year in men who had consecutive health checkup, during a follow-up of 4 years...

We investigate the supercontinuum (SC) generation in an 1 cm long silica photonic crystal fiber (PCF) pumped by the pulse sources with single, dual, and triple wavelengths, respectively. The silica PCF has two zero-dispersion wavelengths at 900 and 2620 nm, respectively. When pumped by a single wavelength, the SC spectral range covers about 1000 nm. When pumped by dual and triple wavelengths, the SC spectral range covers wider than 2000 nm. Both the SC spectral range and the flatness are improved obviously when pumped by triple wavelengths...

PURPOSE: To evaluate changes in corneal endothelial cell density over time in patients with dry eye disease (DED) and to correlate endothelial cell loss with corneal subbasal nerve density. METHODS: This retrospective study included 40 eyes of 20 patients with DED. Laser in vivo confocal microscopy had been performed in the central cornea of both eyes at an initial visit and repeated after a mean follow-up of 33.2 ± 10.2 months. The densities of corneal endothelial cells and subbasal nerves were measured in both visits and compared with 13 eyes of 13 normal age-matched controls...

BACKGROUND: An accessory navicular is generally asymptomatic and discovered incidentally on radiographs. The natural history of an accessory navicular in the pediatric population is largely undescribed. METHODS: The medical charts of 261 pediatric subjects undergoing 2620 annual unilateral radiographs of the foot and ankle (age range 0.25-7 years at enrollment) were reviewed. Radiographs were examined to determine the incidence of accessory navicular, with focus on the age at appearance and, if present, the age at fusion...

Unilateral primary aldosteronism (PA) is often treated with adrenalectomy, but hypertension resolution rates are variable. A valid estimate of the postoperative normotension rate is necessary to inform the utility of PA testing and treatment. The authors searched MEDLINE In-Process & Other Non-Indexed Citations, Embase, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials. Prospective adult cohort studies with surgically treated PA that reported resolution of hypertension without the aid of medications were included...

OBJECTIVE: Objective: Alcohol consumption has an important effect on coronary atherosclerotic heart disease (CAD). Acetaldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2) is a key enzyme in alcohol metabolism. A G-to-A missense mutation of ALDH2 gene, rs671, which causes a Glu > Lys (504) substitution, was performed to detect the association with CAD and other relative diseases, but the results were not conclusive. The purpose of the present study was to determine whether this locus confers significant susceptibility to myocardial infarction and stroke in a Chinese population...

PURPOSE: There is a paucity of research into the relationship between personality and health behaviors among cancer survivors. The aim of this study was to investigate whether Type D personality and its two constituent components, negative affectivity (NA) and social inhibition (SI), are associated with health behaviors, quality of life (QoL) and mental distress among colorectal cancer (CRC) survivors. METHODS: Population-based study among 2620 CRC patients diagnosed between 2000-2009 who completed measures of personality (DS14), health behaviors, QoL (EORTC QLQ-C30) and mental distress (HADS)...

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study is to evaluate the mechanical properties of the screws used for rapid expansion of the upper jaw. METHODS: Ten types of expansion screw were assessed, seven with four arms: Lancer Philosophy 1, Dentaurum Hyrax Click Medium, Forestadent Anatomic Expander type "S", Forestadent Anatomic Expander type "S" for narrow palates, Forestadent Memory, Leone A 2620-10 with telescopic guide, and Leone A 0630-10 with orthogonal arms; and three with two arms: Dentaurum Variety S...

Data in the literature are lacking regarding the infection-related adverse events of bendamustine-containing regimens. Therefore, we aimed to assess this risk. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of all randomized controlled trials including bendamustine-containing regimens and those administered for any lymphoproliferative disorder or plasma cell dyscrasia compared with any other regimens. A comprehensive search was conducted until December 2015. Two reviewers appraised the quality of trials and extracted data...

OBJECTIVE: HASH(0x461dc90) OBJECTIVE: Alcohol consumption has an important effect on coronary atherosclerotic heart disease (CAD). Acetaldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2) is a key enzyme in alcohol metabolism. A G-to-A missense mutation of ALDH2 gene, rs671, which causes a Glu > Lys (504) substitution, was performed to detect the association with CAD and other relative diseases, but the results were not conclusive. The purpose of the present study was to determine whether this locus confers significant susceptibility to myocardial infarction and stroke in a Chinese population...

Influenza surveillance provides data about the characteristics of influenza activity, types, sub-types and antigenic properties of the influenza viruses in circulation in a region. Surveillance also provides for the preparation against potential influenza pandemics with the identification of the genetic properties of viruses and the mutant strains that could pose a threat. In this study, data in the scope of national influenza surveillance carried out by National Influenza Center, Turkey for five consecutive influenza seasons between 2010-2015, following the A(H1N1)pdm09 virus pandemic, have been presented and evaluated...

BACKGROUND: Computing alignments between two or more sequences are common operations frequently performed in computational molecular biology. The continuing growth of biological sequence databases establishes the need for their efficient parallel implementation on modern accelerators. RESULTS: This paper presents new approaches to high performance biological sequence database scanning with the Smith-Waterman algorithm and the first stage of progressive multiple sequence alignment based on the ClustalW heuristic on a Xeon Phi-based compute cluster...

BACKGROUND: Our labor force is aging, but aged workers are not yet coached on how to stay cognitively fit for the job. OBJECTIVE: In this study, we tested whether a self-motivated, complex eHealth intervention could improve multiple health-related behaviors that are associated with cognitive aging among working Dutch adults. METHODS: This quasi-experimental prospective study with a pre-post design was conducted with employees of Dutch medium to large companies...

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common types of malignant tumor worldwide. Currently, although many researchers have been devoting themselves in CRC studies, the process of locating biomarkers for CRC early diagnosis and prognostic is still very slow. Using a centrifugal proteomic reactor-based proteomic analysis of minute amount of colonic biopsies by enteroscopy sampling, 2620 protein groups were quantified between cancer mucosa and adjacent normal colorectal mucosa. Of which, 403 protein groups were differentially expressed with statistic significance between cancer and normal tissues, including 195 up-regulated and 208 down-regulated proteins in cancer tissues...

PURPOSE: To detect the expression of vitronectin (VTN) in the tissues and blood serum of prostate cancer (PCa) patients, and evaluate its clinical significance and to evaluate the significance of the combined assay of VTN and prostate specific antigens (PSA) in PCa diagnosis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: To detect the expression of VTN as a potential marker for PCa diagnosis and prognosis, immunohistochemistry was performed on the tissues of 32 patients with metastatic PCa (PCaM), 34 patients with PCa without metastasis (PCa), and 41 patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH)...

OBJECTIVE: To examine the diagnostic accuracy of a two-stage clinical decision support system for early recognition and stratification of patients with sepsis. DESIGN: Observational cohort study employing a two-stage sepsis clinical decision support to recognise and stratify patients with sepsis. The stage one component was comprised of a cloud-based clinical decision support with 24/7 surveillance to detect patients at risk of sepsis. The cloud-based clinical decision support delivered notifications to the patients' designated nurse, who then electronically contacted a provider...

BACKGROUND: Bite wounds are among the commonest types of trauma to which man is the subject. They account for 5 % of the total traumatic wounds evaluated in the emergency department (ED) and approximately 1 % of all the ED visits. Early estimation of infection risk, adequate antibiotic therapy and if indicated surgical treatment are the cornerstones of successful cure of bite wounds. METHODS: A total of 5248 consecutive trauma patients were collected prospectively and analysed retrospectively over a period of 15 years in this study at a level I trauma centre, Department of Trauma Surgery, Medical University of Vienna, Austria...